mowermech wrote:
Wadcutter wrote:
I've had both 2 WD and 4 WD. When I had 2 WD there were times that I wish it were 4 WD. Not often but there were those times. When I had 4 WD I never thought "I wish this was only 2 WD."
Using anedotal stories like "I saw this guy coming at me sideways on the highway. Guess what he was driving? Yup, a 4X4." Straw argument and actually just plain silly. Doesn't prove anything and toally lacks any reasoning. Plenty of people have gone sideways driving 2 WD. It's trying to equate that losing control is caused by a 4 WD. Doesn't show that at all. A knucklehead who overdrives a 4 WD are the same knuckleheads who overdrive a 2 WD. If that argument was true then the ditches would be full of 4 WD and 2 WD vehicles would be cruising on down the road. Doesn't happen.
Such anecdotes are given ONLY to prove one thing: The old bromide "I have four wheel drive, I don't have to worry about snowpacked or icy roads!" is a FALLACY!
No more, no less.
Oh, and yes, it DOES often happen that 2 wheel drive vehicles are cruising down the road when the ditches "are full of" 4X4s. Of course, there are also 2 wheel drives in the ditches. Again, it is a fact that while 4X4 might help you GO, it does not help you stop or turn. In fact, 4X4 has been known occasionally to put a vehicle in the ditch (been there, did that, on an icy turn)!
Depending on the ditch and how much damage is done a 4wd will back out of the ditch and continue on. Also in curtain situations and the right driving skills a 4wd will also pull you out of a slide. It's like when people have blow outs and run out of the road. Their first instinct when something goes wrong is to apply the brakes. In a lot of cases that will wreck you quicker than anything.
